CARLO BROSCHI FARINELLI (1705–1782): THE CAREER, SKILLS AND NETWORKS OF A CASTRATO SINGER ÖSTERREICHISCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR MUSIK, VIENNA, 9–12 MAY 2019

nicholas.baragwanath@nottingham.ac.uk This conference formed part of ‘Farinelli's Paths’, an ambitious two-year project run by Stefano Aresi, director of Stile Galante, an Amsterdam-based ensemble specializing in eighteenth-century Italian music (see the report by Aresi himself in Eighteenth-Century Music 15/2 (2018), 257–258). After casting doubt on the manuscript's provenance, Sullo raised questions concerning its purpose: was it meant for Farinelli's own practice or for teaching students? [...]there were a couple of papers on the physiology of the castrato voice. Marco Beghelli (Università di Bologna) posited the radical idea that castratos retained their natural baritone or tenor range, saving it for special effect during private entertainments.